You Can Handle Tough Situations Using These Tips

From time to time, we all encounter tough situations. How do you handle them?

How you handle tough situations may depend on how you were taught to handle disappointments or rejection when you were younger. While there is not much you can do about that now, you can start to monitor your reactions to negative feedback so that you can move forward in current situations in a positive way by noticing how important your beliefs are in developing hardiness.

For instance, do you believe you can learn and grow from both positive and negative experiences? Do you believe you can influence your surroundings and the outcome of events? If not in all situations, which situations are you able to believe that? Are you able to ask for accurate feedback in order to further learn and develop from the stressful situation you are experiencing?

How do tough situation affect your self-esteem? Having accurate self-esteem is similar to the concept of developing "hardiness" or resilience. When you are hardy, you know how to keep a positive mindset, and are able to:

Believe you can learn and grow from both positive and negative experiences.

Believe you can influence your surroundings and the outcome of events.

Buffer your exposure to stress.

How you handle your stress is important in building resilience at any stage in life. Some ways you can buffer your exposure to stress are:

Learn to say "no" in certain situations.

Set up boundaries for yourself since they help you set limits.

Take time for reflection; take breaks.

Get plenty of rest, and make healthy food choices.

Exercise to release tension.

Choose to be around supportive people.

Prioritize the things you have to do, and do them.

Find ways to laugh and play.

As you do some of these things, you will find it is possible to ask for accurate feedback and be more resilient. Having courage, curiosity, and perseverance as strengths will also help you continue on your path of becoming the remarkable person you are meant to be.

Action Step: Practice several of the above steps daily for several weeks. Discover a growing feeling of resilience during the stressful times in your life. What other things help you handle your stress?

Comments

Aw, this was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.

Founder, Maurine Patten

Maurine helps upper-level professionals transform their Encore Years into the most rewarding, meaningful and joy-filled time of their life. As an agent of change, she loves guiding them in putting together the 4 pieces of the Retirement Puzzle so they can tap into their dreams and make informed decisions which lead to a fulfilling life. Click Here to Read More...